NMPF Pleased with Senate Agriculture Committee Farm Bill Approval

NMPF Pleased with Senate Agriculture Committee Farm Bill Approval

From Jerry Kozak, President and CEO, NMPF:

“We commend the members of the Senate Agriculture Committee for approving a farm bill today to transform dairy policy, while making necessary improvements in other farm and nutrition programs. The dairy title of the committee’s bill contains the long-awaited reforms offered by the Dairy Security Act , which provides the best combination of effective risk management for dairy farmers, while minimizing program costs to the taxpayer.

“Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) has again proved to be an effective leader of her committee, and we thank her, Ranking Member Thad Cochran (R-MS), and the other members of the Agriculture Committee for working together on the overall farm bill. Dairy farmers look forward to that same leadership as the bill reaches the Senate floor in the coming days.

“We also urge members of the House Agriculture Committee, during their markup of the farm bill tomorrow, to approve the Dairy Security Act and oppose an effort by Rep. Bob Goodlatte that aims to weaken the bill’s protection of dairy farmers. The Dairy Security Act is the best approach to providing milk producers an effective safety net, while avoiding a scenario that Goodlatte’s amendment could cause where dairy margins are low for long periods, hurting farmers and taxpayers alike.”